What happens when Tether “freezes” your Tether?
Stablecoin issuer Tether has been going on a wallet “blacklisting” spree of late, but what happens if your USDT gets “blacklisted” even though you’ve not done anything wrong? What’s your recourse?
Published in
6 min readDec 26, 2023
Tether issues the stablecoin known as Tether, or USDT, and depending on which jurisdiction is relevant to you, your “relationship” with Tether could be through one of two possible entities, according to Tether’s own Terms of Service:
- Tether International Limited (incorporated in the British Virigin Islands) — for non-US Persons with no link to the US at all (including via US financial institutions);
- Tether Limited (incorporated in Hong Kong)— for US Persons.
Most USDT users generally don’t have a direct relationship with Tether, in that they are not Tether customers, nor do they have an account at Tether enabling them to mint or redeem USDT directly with the company.
For the most part, most USDT users will obtain it in secondary markets, where it is considered fungible.
But what happens if you’ve sold something and your USDT ultimately gets “frozen” by Tether?
